Generic road pavers are normally used in street or road construction or when creating squares or other paved areas. Their main function is the distribution of paving material, e.g., asphalt or concrete, on the ground and the creation of an even, at least pre-compacted layer of paving material. Road pavers generally have a machine frame, a driver's platform and a drive engine, e.g., a combustion engine, generally a diesel combustion engine. They are self-propelled machines comprising a chassis with at least a left travel unit and a right travel unit. In this regard, both road pavers with crawler tracks as well as road pavers with wheels are known and comprised by the present invention. In order to receive paving material, road pavers typically have a material container arranged at the front of the road paver in the paving direction, said material container comprising a left container half and a right container half, each with a container floor, a rising container sidewall and a rising container rear wall. Additionally, road pavers normally comprise a longitudinal conveying device configured for the transport of paving material from the material container to a paving screed arranged at the rear of the road paver in relation to the paving direction. The paving direction designates the direction in which the road paver moves when paving. The longitudinal conveying device is normally arranged between the container halves and extends rearwards in the paving direction. When the road paver is in operation, paving material is typically delivered by truck and poured directly into the material container of the road paver. From here, the paving material is transported by means of the longitudinal conveying device to the rear of the road paver, where it is distributed transversely over the paving width and smoothed and compacted by the paving screed which typically floats on the paving material.
The container halves of the material container are typically adjustable and can be moved from a filling position in order to move paving material onto the longitudinal conveying device. For example, it is known that the container halves can be moved laterally in relation to the paving direction toward the middle of the machine, i.e., toward each other, in order to push the paving material in the material container together and onto the longitudinal conveying device. It is also possible for the container halves to be configured so as to be pivotable or tiltable about a pivot axis that runs essentially in the paving direction. By means of such a pivoting movement, the container halves pour the paving material stored in them onto the longitudinal conveying device generally arranged between the container halves, which carries the paving material off in the direction of the paving screed of the road paver. The container halves are thus adjustable between a filling position in which the receiving capacity of the material container is at a maximum and an emptying position in which the receiving capacity of the material container is at a minimum.
When in operation, road pavers typically go through comparatively large amounts of paving material per unit of time. In order to produce an even surface layer, it is important that the supply of paving material is continuous. For this reason, the material containers of road pavers typically have a very large capacity in order to accommodate a sufficient amount of paving material. As a result of the necessary capacity, the material containers of road pavers are typically very large and bulky machine elements, which, in particular, in the filling position in which the material container is at its maximum receiving capacity, partially protrude far beyond the machine frame of the road paver. As the material containers are frequently arranged at the front of the road paver in the paving direction, they often block the view of an operator on the driver's platform, in particular, when in the filling position, so that the latter cannot see where he/she is steering the road paver. However, it is generally necessary to operate as precisely as possible during road construction or a paving operation and, in particular, to guide the road paver accurately along a determined path. If the container halves are extended to a maximum or folded downward as far as they will go, the operator's view of the ground, in particular of the ground below the material container, as well as of the front travel units of the road paver is restricted. It can also happen that the operator of the road paver tries to make do by moving the containers halves out of the filling position immediately after the filling of the material container in order to improve the view to the front. This way, however, as outlined above, the capacity of the material container is reduced and paving material can fall out of the full material container to the front in the paving direction. In the worst case, material falling on the ground in this manner can lead to unevenness in the surface layer produced by the road paver.
In order to improve the viewing conditions of road pavers, e.g., EP 2 918 726 A1 proposes to install camera systems on the road paver and display corresponding camera images to the operator. This, however, leads to a considerable increase in the cost of manufacturing the road paver. Moreover, details regarding the exact direction of travel or the exact alignment of the travel units is often significantly more difficult to discern from camera images than when the corresponding areas of the road paver can be viewed directly.
It is thus the object of the present invention to provide a road paver that is as inexpensive as possible to manufacture and that simultaneously facilitates an improved field of vision for the operator in the paving direction. In particular, a precise steering of the road paver should be possible even when the material container is in the filling position.